"A good question may be how did McDowell, McClellan, Pope, Burnside and Hooker manage to lose twice as many men and get no where?"

I believe McClellan got about as far as Grant did in the wilderness during the time-frame (up to Cold Harbor) we are discussing. That was the AoP's second excursion into the wilderness. Admit I'm going on memory here, should be map-checking, but I'm pretty sure Little Mac got' em somewhere! To within 6-10 miles of Richmond, I think?

Wow, I fell asleep for a few hours, and The Cwi Fairy brought me all kinds of good replies to read! Thanks, All - I'm'a workin' on it!